Historic events and upheavals point to biblical truth

Deal or no deal?

Arab patience with Palestinians is running out

What next for beleaguered Britain?

Or is it a deceptive plot to keep us tied to Europe?

As votes are counted in an election that should never have taken place in the UK, suggestions of conspiracy and betrayal abound amid feelings of being in Alice in Wonderland territory, where the Queen of Hearts and her entourage turn out to be nothing but a pack of cards.

Why, after a majority (17.4 million people) voted to leave the European Union nearly three years ago, are we still so committed to this Tower of Babel project that we are spending over £100 million to choose representatives who will only be sitting in Brussels for a couple of months?

Unless, of course, that was never the plan! For the message we have been consistently giving to Euro leaders - acting collectively like a petulant Pharaoh - is that we are not really serious about leaving. We prefer to be enslaved to their godless laws, and we just love the leeks and onions.

A Fait Accompli?

A secret document witnessed by someone I am assured is a reliable source suggests that our future in Europe was stitched up at a meeting between British Prime Minister Theresa May (now shortly to vacate her post) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel before being presented to the Cabinet at Chequers last summer as a fait accompli.

The two leaders are said to have agreed to ‘appease’ Brexit voters while at the same time keeping as close to the EU as possible, leaving the door open for re-joining the club at a later stage.

The message we have been giving to Euro leaders - acting collectively like a petulant Pharaoh - is that we are not really serious about leaving.

In other words, it is claimed that both leaders agreed that the only realistic future for the UK was as a member of the EU and that the likely course of events is that Britain would re-join in full at some time after the next general election.

So it transpires that the Withdrawal Agreement presented at Chequers was essentially a German production, with the original draft completed in Berlin last May.

Theresa May announces her soon departure as Prime Minister, 24 May 2019. Alastair Grant/AP/Press Association ImagesDeath Blow for Democracy

Of course this whole sorry saga got off on the wrong foot from the word ‘go’ when, in the wake of the 2016 Referendum, Mrs May – a Remainer – was charged with the task of taking us out, against her own convictions. It was a death blow for democracy, and hardly a recipe for job satisfaction, to expect someone clearly convinced that our best interests lie with Europe to spend the next three years negotiating our way out.

Unless, of course, as our information suggests, that is not what she has really been doing. It would explain why Brexit has turned into such a chaotic, crazy circus in which clowns are trying to tame the tigers.

It would seem that the long and tortuous route to freedom has been blighted by deceit and double-dealing to make it look like we are doing one thing when we are really doing quite another.

I’m very suspicious of the message the mainstream TV media are trying to convey by repeatedly showing Mrs May coming out of church, as if to assure us that she means no harm and is doing her best – perhaps even seeking God’s will – to fulfil her promise that ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

The long and tortuous route to freedom has been blighted by deceit and double-dealing.

But in her days as Home Secretary, she was a key figure pushing the same-sex marriage agenda, helping to turn our centuries-old Judeo-Christian values on their head and presiding over the ruin and destruction of a society once the envy of the world.

Now we are a nation, like Israel in Isaiah’s time, that has been separated from God by our iniquities, with hands “stained with blood” (particularly through abortion) and tongues that have muttered wickedness, where “truth is nowhere to be found” as we rely on “empty arguments” (Isa 59:2-4, 15).

A Modern Moses

A leader of integrity is a rare find these days, but Nigel Farage strikes me as such, passionately committed to the single issue of getting out of Europe. I am aware that his popularity could open the door for Jeremy Corbyn if it were repeated in a general election, but unless we regain our sovereignty forthwith, we may forever remain in the manipulative hands of our bureaucratic puppeteers in Brussels.

I am not alone in comparing Brexit to the exodus from Egypt of the enslaved Jews in ancient times. It was hard enough for Moses, and it took ten plagues before a stubborn Pharaoh would let his people go.

But we don’t even have a Moses, unless things change dramatically when Mrs May is replaced. For our leader has no conviction either about the necessity of our exodus or of God’s involvement in the process.

God’s Awesome Sovereignty

But I am a little encouraged by the newly-postponed date for departure – 31 October. Yes, I know Hallowe’en has come to be marked by darkness amid ghostly goings-on, but it was originally celebrated as the eve of All Hallows (or All Saints), a period of the church year dedicated to remembering the faithful departed. More to the point, it was the date in 1517 when Martin Luther sparked the Reformation with his personal revelation of faith in Christ.

It was also the date, exactly 400 years later, when the British Government (through the Balfour Declaration) promised to help restore Jews from around the world to their ancient land, made possible on the very same day when brave soldiers from Australia and New Zealand triumphed against the odds in the Battle of Beersheva.

I am a little encouraged by the newly-postponed date for our departure – 31 October.

And it was also the date, in 1940, of a British victory over Nazi forces that proved a crucial turning-point of World War II. Its cropping up again as the next proposed date for our deliverance from the EU is a small reminder that the Lord – who answers prayer - holds all our times in his hands, and exercises sovereign rule over the nations as he pleases.

But while I do believe that Brexit is crucial, it will not be the turning-point of our present spiritual battle against the forces of evil unless, as a nation, we repent of the heinous sin of turning our back on the God who brought us through the dark years of the 1940s, in answer to the prayers of people all over the country who queued outside churches to seek him for deliverance (see also Isaiah 59:13).

As the great Prophet urges us, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near” (Isa 55:6).

Postscript

On another positive note, a Doncaster primary school used for polling purposes nevertheless went ahead with an assembly in which I took part (in a second hall) declaring the power of the Gospel – the real need of the nation - to hundreds of children!

No more pretending: MPs’ desire to thwart democracy is open and obvious.

Today, Friday 29 March 2019, was the day scheduled to be ‘Brexit Day’ – the day Britain left the European Union. Instead of being a day of triumph it has become a day of shame.

On Wednesday, our Members of Parliament decided to take matters into their own hands and take control of the business of the House. They spent the day debating a series of propositions designed to show the will of the House and finding a way through the impasse of Brexit.

At the end of the day when the votes were taken, not one single proposition was passed, not even the one that was whipped by the Opposition and was said to be Labour policy. The result was derisory! Not only did it fail to produce a shared vision, but it demonstrated to the world the ineptitude of our politicians who, left to themselves, without any Government direction, could not find any agreement on anything! They ended the day as they began – directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

Confusion and Obstruction

Certainly, all 27 members of the European Union are falling about laughing that the British could tie themselves into such knots and create such confusion.

The nearest any of the propositions got to acceptance was one that called for another referendum, going back to the people - which evidently sounded like a good idea to some MPs. Having completely run out of ideas themselves, they thought it would be a good idea to consult the people in the hopes that the close verdict of 2016 might swing the other way and enable Britain to stay under the umbrella of the EU, which is the real desire of some 500 of our MPs.

Our Parliament is directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

At last, the phoney war is over, whereby the majority of our MPs have hidden their real desire to remain in the European Union by opposing the terms of the Prime Minister’s deal. At least we now know that we have a Parliament that is incapable of delivering what the British people voted for in 2016; to leave the European Union. The vast majority of our MPs are opposed to this and are dedicated to obstructing the will of the people who elected them. This is a strange anomaly for a democratic nation with a long history of law and order.

The Battles Intensify

All 500 Remainers, however, recognise that, having triggered Article 50 to leave the European Union, the default position was that we should have left today, without a deal. Having asked the EU for an extension, we are now in their hands to set the date and terms of our leaving.

This is complicated by the European Parliament elections due in May: the EU want us to make up our minds, either to remain and thereby to participate in the elections, or to make a clean break and not disturb their election plans which already look threatened by populist parties gaining ground in many member nations.

Many in the EU would simply like Britain to disappear over the horizon as quickly and soundlessly as possible so that they can put their own house in order. But back in Britain, our MPs are concerned for none of these things. They each have their own agenda and, now that Mrs May has indicated her intention of early resignation, the leadership battles on the Conservative benches to grasp (or avoid!) the poisoned chalice have intensified.

Confession Vital

Will Brexit in any form take place? This is the question hovering over the nation today, which is being observed as a day of prayer by large numbers of Christians throughout the land. How should we be praying? We have said many times in these editorials that for our prayers to be effective, we need to understand what God is doing and how he is working out his purposes, to ensure that we do not pray against God.

Clearly, our prayers have to begin with a confession that we as a nation have turned away from our great biblical heritage and enacted many things in our Parliament that are directly against the teaching of the Bible.

The vast majority of MPs are dedicated to obstructing the will of those who elected them.

To mention just one issue: since legalising abortion in Britain we have killed nearly 9 million babies, thus filling the land with the blood of the innocent: every day a black bag filled with tiny babies is taken out of the back door of our hospitals after a day’s operations and thrown into an incinerator. In Jeremiah’s day they used to burn their babies in the Valley of Ben Hinnom just south of Jerusalem - it was called the ‘Valley of Slaughter’, which God condemned in the most forthright language (Jer 7:30-34).

But God is incredibly patient and lovingly forgiving when we come weeping before him confessing our sinfulness. There is a passage in Isaiah that beautifully expresses God’s attitude when we acknowledge that we have got things wrong:

This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isa 48:17)

Lifting Our Eyes

At least today we know what we are facing in our Parliament. We know there is no rational solution to our problems. We need a miracle to make a breakthrough. Only God can do that, but we know that our nation deserves judgment rather than mercy, so we have to come before God in humility, confessing our sinfulness.

In the knowledge of God’s faithfulness in the past and in the belief that he has good plans for the future of this nation, we have to call upon him for his help: confessing that we do not know what to do, but that our eyes are upon him.

Do not be hasty to point the finger at MPs.

No-one can deny that the nation is in a great crisis. The antics in the House of Commons in the past couple of months have been exposed to the world through television and reports in the British press. It has not been a pretty sight to see all our politicians shouting at each other and no-one listening to anyone else. Passions have been reaching fever pitch, yet no clear majority view has been emerging.

The plain truth is that nobody knows what to do or how to solve the problems that face the nation. Most of our MPs know what they do not like, but they are short on solutions.

The massive majority of the vote to reject Theresa May’s deal brought together people with vastly opposing views; but they were all in agreement on one thing – they did not like what was on offer. Even the Remainers who prefer to stay within the European Union voted against the deal because it would have reduced Britain to the status of having to observe EU rules and regulations without having any say in their formulation.

No Standard of Truth

As we have said many times in these editorials, there are no political solutions to the problems confronting the nation and this is the reason why there is such confusion. Our MPs do not understand the issues, because they have lost the objective standard of truth provided by the biblical foundations of our Judeo-Christian faith that has provided stability and direction for the nation over many centuries.

Without that standard of truth there is no yardstick for measuring different proposals. It allows the propagation of lies and the use of fear to promote proposals that have no basis in truth, such as the fear of leaving the EU with ‘no deal’. It is said that this will collapse the British economy. But less than half of our exports are linked to the European Union and Europe sells us £95 billion more in goods annually than we sell to them!¹ That’s the trade deficit with the EU.

As we have said many times in these editorials, there are no political solutions to the problems confronting the nation and this is the reason why there is such confusion.

It is clearly a pack of lies that our economy will collapse! Once we are free of obligations to the EU, we can do deals with the rest of the world and our economy will flourish if we put our trust in the Lord. But the truth is hidden from the British people by the lies of those who have no trust in God and no understanding of the way he blesses a nation that is founded upon righteousness and the teaching of the word of the Lord.

Lack of Vision

But who is to blame for the fact that our politicians have little or no knowledge of biblical teaching? Why are there so few voices in Parliament championing Judeo-Christian values? And why do only a minority of committed Christians engage in politics?

The simple answer to these questions is that church leaders and preachers do not rightly handle the word of the Lord, so the truth of God’s word does not get embedded in the lives of churchgoers, let alone those who have loose connections with the Church.

This is largely because most preachers lack prophetic vision - they no longer fearlessly declare the word of the Lord in their churches, or prophetically relate biblical teaching to social and national issues. They give nice, cosy little homilies on biblical themes that lack the dynamic thrust of the two-edged sword of the Lord. So, we now have a generation of closet Christians with no mission to transform the nation. If the whole word of the Lord is not heard in church, it will not reach out into the nation.

Silent Church

Let me put a plain question to all those of you who go to church regularly: when was the last time you heard the minister address national issues in the context of the word of God? Do you regularly hear from the pulpit the teaching of the Bible – both the word of God through the Prophets of Israel and the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus and taught by the apostles – expounded and applied, not only to personal and local issues, but also to national issues that our politicians and leaders are having to face?

In your church do you pray for the nation? Do you have intercessions for those in authority (1 Tim 2:2), where you pray for your town council, or your city council, or your Member of Parliament, or the Government, or the Queen?

If the whole word of the Lord is not heard in church, it will not reach out into the nation.

Why is the Church so silent on national issues and so separated from the world in which we all live? When was the last time you heard a sermon unpacking the Bible and applying its truth to current issues? Do you ever hear the preacher explaining the word of the Lord revealed through the Prophets in the Bible – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel?

When did you last hear the basic teaching of the Torah expounded in your church?

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deut 6:4-7)

This surely shows that responsibility for passing on the faith rests not only with church leaders, but with ordinary believers. Do you impress biblical teaching in your conversation with your children or grandchildren? Do you talk about the word of the Lord at home and when you walk along the street?

We have no right to criticise our Members of Parliament for not knowing biblical truth if we have not rightly handled the word of the Lord in our own family, or among our friends and neighbours.

Reformation Starts with You and Me

Of course, the nation is in a mess; but who is really to blame? In biblical times God always held the preachers and prophets responsible for the nation – as Jeremiah said:

My people do not know the requirements of the Lord…actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely…From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. (Jer 8:7-11)

Can the same charge be levelled at the Church today? Not just the preachers: all of us, to some extent, bear responsibility. Should we not all be weeping before the Lord in repentance? The reformation of the nation does not start in Westminster: it starts in the Church - with you and me.

References

1 Statistics on UK-EU trade. Research Briefing, House of Commons Library, 30 November 2018.

Turmoil, division and anarchy: where is God?

The Prime Minister has seen off the challenge to her leadership and secured another 12 months before she can be challenged again. But has this changed anything at Westminster?

The failed leadership coup has shown that one third of the parliamentary Conservative Party is against their own Prime Minister, reflecting the division in the nation that is becoming increasingly vociferous.

Britain is not alone in being a divided nation. France is in an even more serious situation with open warfare on the streets and widespread social dissatisfaction with the ruling elite. President Macron is fighting for his political life in a battle that looks even more dangerous than Theresa May’s. The rise of populist movements in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and even in Germany, is threatening the stability of the European Union.

These political eruptions make it increasingly difficult for Brussels to make concessions to the Brexit deal, despite signs that they would like to help Theresa May in her search for a solution that would win the vote in the British Parliament.

So what’s going on? Why did 117 Conservative MPs vote against their own leader? Is it possible to solve the Irish border situation and get a Brexit deal that satisfies everyone? We could add at least a hundred more unanswerable questions to the mounting pile of imponderable conundrums facing us in the world today. It seems that in every part of the world there are social, political or economic problems, or even open conflict threatening to destabilise the globe – and that’s without throwing in environmental problems like climate change!

Need for Spiritual Clarity

How do we read the situation facing us as we send off our Christmas greetings and contemplate the frightening prospect of another year with all the old problems unresolved and even more on the horizon? Is there something very simple that we are all missing? Is there another dimension that would enable us to see the whole thing from a different perspective? It’s like watching snooker on a black-and-white television – it just doesn’t make sense; you can’t know what’s going on. Change to colour TV and suddenly it all becomes clear.

It seems that in every part of the world there are social, political or economic problems, or even open conflict threatening to destabilise the globe.

Paul describes this situation: he says that there are some things that can only be understood if they are viewed from a spiritual dimension. He says: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).

Among the hundreds of prophecies in the Bible, the one that makes the most sense in our present situation is the little word from Haggai 2:7 that we have quoted lots of times in Prophecy Today UK and in the old printed magazine of the same name: it is that God is shaking the nations.¹ And not only the nations; that prophecy says that God will also shake the whole of the heavens and the earth – in other words, all of Creation. Why would God do such a thing? There has to be a reason!

Clearly God does not want to see the destruction of his Creation and the annihilation of human beings. But the Bible makes clear that God will do what is necessary to soften hard hearts and get people’s attention – because he desires all people to come to a knowledge of him and respond to his offer of salvation.

Anarchy Arising

There are plenty of other passages of Scripture that speak about terrible destruction coming upon the nations of the world. Since the invention of atomic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, passages such as Isaiah 24, which describes the devastation of the earth’s surface, have taken on a new significance.

I am not saying that God is warning us of the imminent risk of nuclear warfare. But I do foresee that large parts of the world are moving into a highly disturbing time of anarchy – of the challenge to law and order, of urban warfare – even repeating the kind of civil war that has devastated Syria in the past seven or eight years.

In Britain the demand for a ‘People’s Vote’ may sound innocuous, but it could very quickly lead to the kind of open conflict on the streets of London and other cities similar to that which is taking place on the streets of Paris.

Prolonged and Confusing Battle

In order to understand the significance of the battle within the Conservative Party, which is a reflection of the division in the whole nation, we have to see the spiritual forces that are at work. This is a battle between post-modernist, globalist, atheist forces, born in the 18^th-Century Enlightenment, and Britain’s centuries-old Judeo-Christian heritage. In the last decades, it is the latter that has been losing ground in this battle. The Brexit crisis has simply brought everything to a head; the outcome will determine the future, not only of Britain but of the whole Western world.

In order to understand the significance of the battle within the Conservative Party, which is a reflection of the division in the whole nation, we have to see the spiritual forces that are at work.

This is why it is such a prolonged and confusing battle that is so difficult to understand. It is actually a battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. I am not saying that all the politicians who voted against the PM are the goodies and the others are the baddies – or vice versa! I doubt if many of them really understand the true nature of the battle and the spiritual significance of what is happening in our lifetimes.

We are moving towards what Christians call the end times – the turbulent days foretold in Scripture leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. We can only understand what is happening in our daily news bulletins when we see it in the context of the whole revelation of truth in the Bible. I believe this is why so many Christians are getting into small groups to study the Bible and to pray together in these confusing days.

D-Day

The secular humanists are fighting very hard to keep Britain locked into the European Union: this is why they have seized upon the Irish border as the weakest point in the Brexit agreement: a way for them to continue to exercise power over Britain.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the best solution would be for Britain to leave with no deal at all, which would also save paying £39 billion to the EU. It would probably cause some economic disruption for a short period but in the end would lead to far greater prosperity and new opportunity to seek the blessing of God upon the nation.

We greatly need to pray to God to protect Britain in the turbulent days leading up to D-Day – 29 March 2019.

Editorial note: Do visit our ‘Pray for Britain’ section on the website, where new prayer resources have been uploaded since last week. Please also consider attending a number of special prayer days coming up soon:

• Saturday 26 January: A Day of Prayer and Fasting for God to Deliver our Nation from Chaos! The SSE Arena, Wembley, 10am-6pm. Organised by David Hathaway and Eurovision. Dr Clifford Hill will be speaking.
  
• Monday 18 – Wednesday 20 March: Issachar Ministries conference, ‘Brexit: Hardship or Harvest?’. Swanwick, Derbyshire.
• Friday 29 March (Brexit Day): A Day of Prayer in Westminster. Organised by Issachar Ministries. With Dr Clifford Hill, David Hathaway and others.

See the News Page for further details of these events and to book tickets.

Notes

1 See also Hebrews 12:25-27. 

Britain has a choice ahead.

I have been looking at things we published in Prophecy Today back in 2016, prior to the Referendum and the vote to leave the European Union. Amongst the many comments and articles about the EU and about Britain, its heritage and present social and spiritual condition, we also published what we believed to be an authentic prophecy given by David Noakes.

Although we left readers to assess whether or not they believed this to be a genuine word from God, we clearly felt that there was the truth in it, or we would not have published it. We therefore believe it is right to revisit it at this crucial time in the nation’s history.

We now face the appalling prospect of a second referendum, which is being continually pushed by the BBC in all their news bulletins and interviews - or another general election, in which there is a strong possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister.

Let’s review the situation. Theresa May has rightly won the respect even of her strongest opponents, however grudgingly, for her resilience and persistence in the past two years of hard bargaining with the officials of the European Union, succeeding in agreeing a deal with them which has now been presented to the British Parliament and will be voted upon in the near future.

The deal itself is vastly complex and is set out in 500 pages of legal language that makes it difficult to summarise and assess. It sets out the financial settlement with Brussels for allowing the UK to leave the EU; the establishment of a transition period, giving businesses and individuals time to adjust; and it establishes the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU at the end of the Brexit period. 

We now face the appalling prospect of a second referendum, which is being continually pushed by the BBC in all their news bulletins and interviews.

The Irish Question

The most controversial part of the deal is the agreement over the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, to ensure that Britain cannot gain a competitive advantage over the rest of the EU.

Anti-Brexit protesters in Westminster. See Photo Credits.

There is agreement between the two sides to make every endeavour to secure a satisfactory agreement during the transition period. But if no agreement is reached, a temporary backstop would come into effect whereby all EU rules and regulations would apply keeping Northern Ireland effectively within the European Union – a situation that could only be resolved by joint agreement. In other words, Northern Ireland could only be joined up to the rest of the UK with the permission of the EU! This of course is quite intolerable to the DUP and to all Brits who uphold the Union of the United Kingdom!

What a strange quirk of history that the Irish question, which has bugged the English since the time of Oliver Cromwell, should be the main stumbling block to our agreement in getting out of the European Union! It has long been a joke among Westminster politicians that if they ever discovered the answer to the Irish question, the Irish would change the question! They have done just that now. It is no longer a question of whether or not there should be a border, but how the border should operate.

But we cannot blame the Irish for the problems of the European Union, which conflict much more deeply with the foundational values of our democratic civilisation. For centuries these ‘British’ values have been founded upon biblical principles of truth, integrity, faithfulness, righteousness, liberty and freedom of expression. It is because these values were being threatened by the European Union and its unelected cabal of Eurocrats, dedicated to secular humanist philosophies and the principle of ‘ever-closer union’, that many people in Britain voted to leave.

What a strange quirk of history that the Irish question, which has bugged the English since the time of Oliver Cromwell, should be the main stumbling block to our agreement in getting out of the European Union!

Revisiting Prophecy

So, what is God saying to Britain today in the face of the utter chaos in our House of Commons, where every MP has a different point of view and there is no shared vision? We hardly need to remind our readers that where there is no vision, the people perish! (Prov 29:18) or, to use the Living Bible’s translation – “Where there is ignorance of God, the people run wild.”

Our greatest problem in Britain today – and the reason for this absence of vision - is the lack of understanding of even the basics of biblical truth. It is now a whole generation ago that we ceased to teach schoolchildren the basics of the Bible. This is why this present generation is suffering so much from knife crime, guns and gangs in our cities. And this is why there is such a vast amount of mental disorders, depression and suicide among young people – and adults.

A whole generation has been raised without any understanding of basic truth. Now they are even being told that they can choose their own gender – the one fixed point of reference that they have in their childhood! Indeed, we are a nation thoroughly deserving of judgment! We are certainly on the road to ruin unless there is a fundamental change in social policy, currently driving the nation to disaster.

We need to read again the central paragraph of the prophecy given to David Noakes in November 2015 (published in April 2016):

Rather than rely on Me and my faithfulness to you, you chose, for worldly purposes, to join yourself to an institution [the European Union] which has denied my Name and refused to acknowledge Me in its councils. My fierce anger is upon that institution on account of its rebellion, its defiant rejection of me and its hardness of heart towards my ancient people Israel.

I warn you now that the European institution will not repent, even though I bring disaster and destruction upon it. I urge you, O Britain still beloved by Me for the sake of your godly forefathers, come out of her, so that you may not be caught up in that same destruction, for I am even now arising in judgment to bring to nothing what she has sought to achieve. If you will separate yourself from her declared rejection of God, I will have mercy upon you and restore my hand of protection; and I will use you once again to bring light to many lost in the darkness which is now steadily increasing.¹

Our greatest problem in Britain today – and the reason for this absence of vision - is the lack of understanding of even the basics of biblical truth.

Choice Ahead

The choice facing the British nation today is a choice between re-asserting our independence as a sovereign state and (crucially) putting our trust back in God for the future, or being driven onto the rocks of destruction through social chaos and violence. This will inevitably follow if the secular humanists continue to get their way – particularly if they succeed in forcing the nation to hold a second referendum.

It does not really matter whether we leave the EU with Mrs May’s deal or with no deal. If we put our trust in the Lord, blessings and prosperity are guaranteed for the future of the nation. The one thing to be avoided at all costs, is a second referendum. The prayers of all Christians should be directed to this end.

References

1 Read the full prophecy here.

Turmoil on the streets, in schools and in matters of state: what has gone wrong?

Two chaotic scenes shown on television this week speak volumes about the state of the British nation today. One was a short film about a school for excluded pupils showing young people whose behaviour was so disruptive they had been banned from mainstream education. They were some of nearly 50,000 dysfunctional or ill pupils taught in alternative provision schools.

The second was Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons with 600 representatives of the people all shouting at the same time and no-one listening to anyone else. This was the Mother of Parliaments in action – the oldest and most respected political institution in Western democracy. Brexit fever had spread its pernicious toxin across the House and sanity had fled the building. Chaos reigned supreme.

I went into my study and wept. What has gone wrong with the nation I have loved and served throughout my working life? Is there any word from the Lord? Isaiah 31 came to me. The Assyrian Empire was at its height and many in Israel feared invasion. In Jerusalem there was a strong pro-Egyptian party who had persuaded the king to send emissaries with lavish gifts to sign a treaty binding them with Egypt. The word of the Lord came to the Prophet Isaiah,

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strengths of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord…But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together.

How apposite this is for our current situation! When do we ever hear any of our political leaders ask if there is any word from the Lord? Of course, it should be obvious that if M. Barnier and the European Union are happy with the deal, it must raise doubts as whether it will be good for Britain. But the greatest need among our Members of Parliament is for spiritual discernment, which is woefully lacking at present.

When do we ever hear any of our political leaders ask if there is any word from the Lord?

Facing Turmoil

No-one, however, could fail to admire the resilience of the Prime Minister facing a baying pack of critics in the House of Commons with insults and jibes thrown at her from all sides, yet she answered each one with dignity and confidence. At the end of the day she held a televised press conference in the full view of the nation and defended the deal she had struck with Brussels, saying that her major objectives had been achieved and Britain would be leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019.

Her objective has been to seek an arrangement that would ensure frictionless trade with the rest of Europe while at the same time taking back responsibility for our borders; but safeguarding the position of EU workers in Britain and British citizens resident in Europe.

Her objective has also been to get out of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fishing Policy which have favoured foreign producers. Above all, a major objective has been to ensure that Britain is free from the rules and regulations of the European Court of Justice and all the other legal impositions of Brussels. This is where there are major doubts among those who have fought for many years to be free from the EU and return sovereignty to the British Parliament.

Anti-Brexit protestors in Westminster this week. NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA ImagesAlongside all these objectives has been the complication of the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. No one wants to return to a hard border, but the DUP, whose 10 votes in the House of Commons are needed for a Government majority, do not want Ulster to be treated any different from other parts of the UK.

Most of the politicians shouting abuse at Theresa May had not read the 580-page document jointly agreed by the negotiators from Britain and Brussels. It will no doubt be argued over for a long time and there will still be hardline Brexiteers who will prefer Britain to leave the EU with no deal than one that keeps Britain tied to European laws and customs-regulations for an ill-defined period.

The weakness of all those opposing the EU deal is that they have no rational alternative. They all appear to be a bunch of individuals peddling their own political ambitions - in contrast to the statesmanlike conviction of the Prime Minister.

The greatest need among our MPs is for spiritual discernment, which is woefully lacking at present.

Nation Under Judgment

The turmoil in the House of Commons and out on the streets of Westminster is something never before seen in my lifetime. There is a simple reason for this: we are a nation under judgment. Since the 1950s, one law after another has been passed in our Parliament that violates biblical values and teaching. The final red line was the passing of The Same-Sex Marriage Act in 2013.

This was not only directly against God’s act of creation in making human beings male and female in his own image, but it also further undermined the central importance of marriage and family in the social structure of the nation. This, together with all of the other laws which have enabled and encouraged family breakdown, is why we are now seeing so many children and young people who have no understanding of right and wrong and whose behaviour is uncontrollable. And this is why so many young people are dying on our city streets in a wave of knife crime, drugs and gang warfare.

Our politicians are infected with the same spirit of rebellion that we see among young people. Once you reject the word of God, ultimate standards of truth and righteousness disappear from the nation. If Parliament rejects the deal offered by the EU and agreed with the Prime Minister, the only alternatives are a ‘No Deal’ or another referendum. But a second referendum would only increase division and bring utter disaster, releasing uncontrollable anarchy on the streets.

It is important to remember that the European Union is also under judgment for having rejected the word of the Lord and scorned its centuries of Judeo-Christian heritage. In the near future, I believe we will see one nation after another enveloped in turmoil across Europe with rising nationalism tearing aside the false unity created by Brussels with their one-size-fits-all, secular-pagan politics.

The turmoil in Westminster is for one simple reason: we are a nation under judgment.

Pray for Mercy

If Britain were a godly nation we should simply leave the European Union, with or without a deal, and put our trust in the Lord, who would undoubtedly respond with protection and prosperity. But without faith we are likely to be driven by spirits of darkness.

The future of Britain is at greater risk today than at any time since the darkest days of Dunkirk in 1940. Will God have mercy upon us for the sake of our godly heritage and the faithful remnant of believers who are still interceding at the throne of grace?

Christians: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong (1 Cor 16:13). And pray: pray for a spirit of repentance to fall among our politicians. Pray for eyes to be opened to the realities of what has gone wrong. Pray for prophetic voices to arise to call the nation back to God. Pray for mercy in the midst of judgment.